Joseph Sturge. Pleading the Cause of the Negro in the West Indies in 1837.

£750 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

A very good example of this three-quarter length portrait of the English Quaker and abolitionist. Beside him is a young girl, likely representing a Jamaican, on a pillar beside them are books and a scroll with the word “Emancipation” written on it. ODNB discusses Sturge’s involvement in the abolitionist cause, which began in the 1820s: “He soon became dissatisfied with T.F. Buxton and the leaders of the movement, who favoured a policy of gradual emancipation. In 1831 he was one of the founders of the agency committee of the Anti-Slavery Society, whose programme was entire and immediate emancipation. Sturge and his friends engaged lecturers, who travelled through Britain and Ireland arousing popular interest. They were disappointed by the measure of emancipation passed by the government on 28 August 1833, granting compensation to slave owners and substituting a temporary system of unpaid apprenticeship for slavery. Between November 1836 and April 1837 Sturge visited the West Indies gathering evidence to demonstrate the flaws of the apprenticeship system. On his return he published The West Indies in 1837 (1838), the first edition of which rapidly sold, and gave evidence for seven days before a committee of the House of Commons … Sturge and his friends subsequently sent large sums of money to Jamaica in support of schools, missionaries, and a scheme for settling former slaves in ‘free townships’.” Hugh Thomas continues the story: “the dedicated Joseph Sturge, Alderman of Birmin

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.